Resistance welding apparatus



Feb. 3, 1942. H. NEWELL 2,271,987

RESISTANCE WELDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 8, 1941 Fig.1.

I4 I, I'l'll'll'l'l'llllll' 23 7 I I5 24 L1 25' l9 Inventor: Haber LN well,

' His Attorney Patented Feb. 3, i9 2 I 2,271,937

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RESISTANCE WELDING APPARATUS Hebcr L. Newell, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application October 8, 1941, serial No. 414,128 6 Claims. (Cl. 219-4) My invention relates to resistance welding appanying drawing, Fig. l of which shows a hand paratus and more specifically to a device or tool tool embodying my invention and the method of for making welded connections in wiring systems. making a welded joint between a plurality of It is particularly suited for making connections wires; Fig. 2 of which shows the welded union such as are used in dwellings and factories, but produced by using my welding tool; Fig. 3 of of course it is not limited to this particular use. which is a side sectional view illustrating the Although mechanical connections have been characteristic features of my welding tool; Fig. 4 used to join the wires of such systems, the more of which is a sectional view of Fig. 3 along lines general practice has been to join the wires by 4-4 thereof; and Fig. 5 of which is an end view means of soldered joints. In making a soldered ill of the welding tip portion of my welding tool. joint there is always the possibility of including In accordance with my invention the ends of flux in the joint which will increase the resisttwo or more wires are bared of insulation and ance of the joint and cause corrosion at the then pressed in side-by-side relationship into a joint. There is also the possibility of not heating recess located in a welding tip forming part of the joint and solder to a sufficiently high teml5 my welding tool. This welding tip in a laminated perature to produce the desired union between block formed of layers of electrically conductive the wires and the solder. Furthermore the solhigh resistance material separated by a layer of dering operation is time consuming in itself and electrically nonconductive material and its rerequires a proper preparation of the ends of the cess is formed partly in each of the layers of the wires by skinning, scraping and thorough'cleanblock. This recess tapers inwardly in all direcing to adapt them for the soldering operation. tions from its op n e W c is c o sw e o When the joint is made by an open flame, as these layers in a surface of the block, to its closed is usually the case, the careless application of end which is located within the block. When the flame to the joint often results in burning the ends of the wires to be joined are pressed insulating compound out of the covering on the into this recess they make contact with and com- Wires as well as destroying any rubber forming plete an electrical circuit from one conductive part thereof in the immediate vicinity of the layer of the block to the other. Within a short joint. Furthermore, since the soldering temperatime they become heated and plastic from the ture is insuificient to melt the sharp edges at the heat gene d y e fiOW o Welding current o cut ends of the Wires being joined, these sharp 0 that upon deformation they are n d y a edges persist in the joint as finished and are welded joint determined by the s ape of the reliable to cut through insulation applied to the c ss. The w di tip is s pp r i a clamp joint after the soldering operation has been fin- Which exposes its recessed portion 0 t a W s ished. The use of an open flame in making such may be readily inserted and removed therefrom. soldered joints also results in a certain fire haze ing ur ent s supplied to e welding t ard which it is desirabl to eliminate from a source of supplyvby conductors connected It is an object of my invention to provide a to the laws or fingers of the welding clamp. tool for making welded connections in wiring sys- These jaws make a conductive en a m t Wi h tems which avoids the above recited dis dvam the conductive layers of the block which act as tages of soldered connections. electrodes.

It is a further object of my invention to pro- The hand o s o n n t e draw ng comp s vide a tool into which the ends of wires which a Welding ip in Which is l cated and held in have not been carefully cleaned of their insulathe r d d of a a p This a p is tion may be placed tqconneci; them by a, welded located within a sleeve Of insulating material l2 joint whi h firmly unite th and completely so that only the recessed end of the welding tip destroys any sharp edges at their ends, is exposed at one end of the sleeve for the in- It is also an object of my invention to provide sertion and removal of wire assemblies that are a tool in which the welding temperature and to be welded tcg A handle ,D e a y welding pressure are obtained by pushing the ade of insu atin a e ia is ou ted on the wire ends against the inwardly converging side other end of sleeve l2. Welding current is supwalls of a recess which is formed partly in each plied to the welding tip thr conductors M of a plurality of juxtaposed electrically insulated ach o which is co nec d to a ja e ber of electrodes. the clamp. Theseconductors extend through an Further objects of my invention will b me insulating collar 15 which is threaded into the apparent from a consideration of the accomend of handle i3. Conductors l4 form part of a resistance welding circuit including an adjustable resistor i6. They may for example be connected to the secondary of a welding transformer whose primary is connected to a suitable source of alternating current supply. It is of course apparent that conductors l4 may also be connected to a direct current source of supply and that other means than resistor I may be used for adjusting the value of welding current supplied to the welding tip.

The welding tip I is a cylindrical laminated block formed of layers of electrically conductive material I! separated by a layer of electrically nonconductive material It. Its exposed end portion is provided with a conical recess i9 which is formed partly in each of the layers of the block. This recess need not be conical in shape as illustrated, since any recess conoidal or otherwise which tapers ihwardly in all directions from its open end which is crosswise of these layers in an outside surface of the block, will prove to be satisfactory. Preferably the inner end of the recess is closed and the surface of the recess is continuous so that wire ends inserted in the recess may be readily twisted or rubbed against its surface to shape the weld between the wires after they have beensoftened by the heat which is generatddor the most part where they contact with .the electrically conductive portions or electrodes of the welding tip. These electrodes are preferably formed of a high resistance material such as carbon, silicon-carbide mixture known as Globar, tungsten, molybdenum, iron, stainless steel and the like. The insulating material between these electrodes may be mica, clay, porcelain or some similar material which is not only an electrical insulator, but also resistant to temperatures such as 'are obtained in making a resistance weld between wires of copper and the like.

The welding tip III is inserted and. held within two complementary semi-cylindrical openings located in the outer ends of the two semi-cylindrical jaw members II of clamp II. The flat inner ends of these jaw members engage and are spaced from one another by an insulating block 2| provided with two dowel pins 22 which extend into holes in each of the jaw members 20 and hold these jaw members in desired positions relatively to one another. These jaw members are opened and closed by a clamping screw 23 which is insulated from one of the jaw members and engages a threaded opening in the other jaw member. Each of the jaw members is provided with an independent electrical connection 24 with each of the conductors l4 bymeans of which welding current is supplied to the clamp and welding tip. A plurality of screws 25, having heads recessed within openings in the collar portion of handle I8, extend through this collar and sleeve II to make a threaded engagement with jaws III of clamp ll. These screws hold the several parts in the assembled relationship shown in the drawing.

My welding tool is small in size and light in weight making it easy to use. As it is only used intermittently, conductors H for supplying welding current thereto may be made quite small in size so that their weight is negligible and in no way hinders the operators use of the welding tool. Since the tool is fully insulated by sleeve II forming a part thereof, it may be used in restricted places and laid on metallic surfaces withoutshort eircuiting the source of supply or in any way damaging the tool or the objects which it may engage. There is also no possibility of the operator receiving a shock, no matter how carelessly he handles the tool for only by deliberate action on his part is it possible to contact or make contact with the electrodes of the welding tip.

One method of using the tool above described for joining the ends of two solid wires having a coating of insulation thereon is shown in Fig. i. As shown in this figure the wire ends are bared of insulation and held in one hand so that the bared ends are in side-by-side relationship. They are then pressed firmly into the recess in the open end of the welding tool which is held in the other hand. As soon as the wire ends make engagement with the electrodes of the welding tip current flows from one electrode to the other through the wire ends. Most of the heat resulting from this flow of current is generated in the electrodes and where these wire ends make engagement with the surfaces of the electrodes. Within a short period of time the wire ends are sufficiently heated to become plas- I tie and a firm pressure applied thereto by forcing the wires into the welding tool results in the formation of a weld between the wire ends such as shown in Fig. 2. The weld of course takes the shape of the recess. The formation of this weld may be facilitated by twisting or rubbing the wire ends over the surface of the recess formed partly in each of the electrodes.

There are vseveral advantages resulting from the use of my welding tool. It is only necessary to expose a short length of the wire ends. Furthermore a good weld will be obtained, even though these wire ends are not carefully cleaned so that rubber and insulating material still adhere in minor quantities to their end portions. This is because conductive engagement is initially made between the wire ends and the welding tip through the cut ends of the wire. Another advantage is that the tool may be intermittently used without annoying delays since it is not necessary to have any part of it come up to temperature before it is capable of being used.

There are also the following advantages. The welded joint obtained by using my tool is much better mechanically than the usual soldered joint since there is much less chance for obtaining a poor weld than there is of obtaining a poor or cold soldered joint. The welded joint is also better electrically because there is no possibility of including flux in the joint and because there is a continuous uniform path through the joint instead of a high resistance solder path. Furthermore there are no sharp points on the joint so that insulation may be applied thereto without having the joint break through the insulation due to sharp points such as result from cutting the wires. In making a soldered joint these sharp points are not destroyed, whereas in making a welded joint with my tool these sharp edges enter into and become part of the weld and disappear into the smooth surface of the weld formed thereby. Since the welded joint is quickly made when using a tool of my construction very little heat extends back into the insulated portion of the wires. There is consequently no destruction or burning of the insulation near the joint such as frequently occurs when using the open flame of a torch.

A tool embodying my invention may be used for joining more than two wires and the wires may be solid or stranded or both. In making a joint aermsv it is not necessary to hold the tool as shown in the drawing since any convenient and comfortable positioning of it relatively to the wlre ends is possible. If there is any possibility of the wire ends melting, the tool may be held in a vertical position so that molten metal will not run out of the recess in its welding tip. Any molten metal formed will usually adhere to the weld and quickly solidify as soon as the wire ends are withdrawn from the welding tip.

It is apparent that the welding tip may be provided with more than two electrodes and that these electrodes may be connected in various ways to a source of direct current or a single or polyphase source of alternating current. It is also apparent that my invention may be used other than as a hand tool. It may, for example, be embodied in a manually operated or automatic machine. Consequently my invention is not limited in its application to welding tools having the specific details of construction above described and illustrated in connection with one embodiment thereof. Many variations and modifications thereof will occur to those skilled in the art and I consequently intend in the appended claims to cover all such modifications and variations.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Resistance welding apparatus comprising a laminated block formed of layers offelectrically conductive material separated by a layer of electrically nonconductive material and having a recess therein which is formed partly in each of said layers of said block and tapers inwardly in all directions from its open end which is crosswise of said layers in a surface of said block, a holder which supports said laminated block so that work parts may be readily inserted and removed from said recess located therein, and independent electrical connections for each of said electrically conductive layers of said block.

2. Resistance welding apparatus comprising a laminated block formed of layers of electrically conductive high resistance material separated by a layer of electrically nonconductive material and having a recess therein which is formed partly in each of said layers of said block and tapers inwardly in all directions from its open end which is crosswise of said layers in a surface of said block to its closed end which is located within said block, a holder which supports said lami-- nated block so that work parts may be readily insorted and removed from said recess located therein, and independent electrical connections for each of said electricrly conductive layers of said block.

8. Resistance welding apparatus comprising a welding tip formed of a plurality of juxtaposed electrodes electrically insulated from one another and having-complementary surface portions constituting the surface of a conoidal recess which extends into said; welding tip from a surface thereof in which its open end is located, a holder whichsupports said welding tip so that work parts may be readily inserted and removed from said recess therein, and independent electrical connections for each of said electrodes of said welding tip.

4. Resistance welding apparatus comprising a welding tip formed of a plurality of juxtaposed electrodes electrically insulated from one another and having complementary surface portions constituting the surface of a conoidal recess which extends into said welding tip from a surface thereof in which its open end is located, a clamp having electrically conductive jaws each of which is adapted to make an electrically conductive engagement with one of said electrodes of said welding tip when said clamp is closed to hold said welding tip, a support which electrically insulates said clamp and exposes said welding tip so that work parts may be readily inserted and removed from said recess therein, and independent electrical connections for each of said electrodes of said welding tip.

5. A resistanc welding tool comprising a laminated block formed of two electrodes of high re sistance material separated by a strip of insulating material and having a recess therein which is formed partly in each of said electrodes and said strip of insulating material and which converges inwardly in all directions from its open end located crosswise of said electrodes and said strip in one end of said block to its closed end which is located within said block, a clamp having electrically conductive jaws each of which is adapted to make an electrically conductive engagement with an exposed side surface of one of said electrodes of said welding tip when said clamp is closed to hold said welding tip, a support lating material and having a recess therein which is formed partly i each of said electrodes and said strip of insula 'ng material and which converges inwardly in all directions from its open end located crosswise of said electrodes and said strip in one end of said block to its closed end which is located within said block, a clamp having two electrically conductive jaws which are electrically insulated from one another and each of which is adapted to make an electrically conductive engagement with the side of one of said electrodes of said block, a sleeve of insulating material surrounding said clamp which is positioned therein so that the recessed end of said block is located at one end of said sleeve, a handle located at the other end of said sleeve ior'supporting said clamp, and an independent electrical connection for attaching to each of said jaws oi said clamp a conductor which extends through said handle.

HEBER L. NEWELL. 

